Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for managing print previews.
Description of the Related Art
An operating system which provides a print architecture that includes filter pipelines to process print jobs has been introduced. The filter pipelines can be used to realize a print-preview function that allows a user to preview images of a document before submitting a print job. When the print-preview function is invoked, the current filter-pipeline framework is designed to setup the filter pipeline, initialize the filters, unpack the XPS document, and send the parts of the XPS document to the filter pipeline. Additionally, each time the print-preview function is invoked, the filter pipeline restarts the entire process after the entire document of the previous process is processed or after the filter pipeline is commanded to shut down the previous process. For example, when a user requests a preview of a first range of pages (e.g., pages 1-10) of a document with 100 pages, the filter-pipeline manager starts processing the first range of pages for the first preview. While the first range of pages is being processed, the user requests a preview of a second range of pages (e.g., pages 50-60) of the document. Before the filter-pipeline manager starts processing the second range of pages for the second preview, the filter-pipeline manager processes the entire document for the first preview or processes the first range of pages for the first preview until a command to shut down the filter pipeline is received. After the processing of the entire document for the first preview is completed or the command to shut down the filter pipeline is received, the filter-pipeline manager starts the same process again for the second preview, including setting up the filter pipeline, initializing the filters, unpacking the XPS document, and sending the parts for the second range of pages. Thus, it is time consuming and inconvenient for the user.